Aligning Admissions Requirements for Teacher Credential Programs in the CSU

AS-2479-00/TEKR - January 20-21, 2000

RESOLVED: That the Academic Senate of the California State University support the CSU Deans of Educations recommendation regarding Common Admission Standards for Programs of Teacher Preparation provided that admissions be based on systemwide GPA standards by discipline that reflect the variation in overall median grade point average.

RATIONALE: In order to meet the Trustees' goal of common admission standards for teacher education as well as requirements for legislative accountability and enrollment reporting, the CSU Deans of Education have recommended systemwide standards for admission into programs of teacher education. The common or systemwide admission criteria represent a balance and compromise across all the existing campus requirements. All applicants meeting systemwide admissions standards would be offered the opportunity to enter a program somewhere in the CSU.

The adoption of common admission guidelines by all campuses is an explicit goal of the CSU's Commitment to Prepare High Quality Teachers which was adopted by the CSU Board of Trustees and endorsed by the CSU Academic Senate in 1998. Increasing the CSU's ability to attract and prepare greater numbers of highly qualified teachers is critical to the quality of education in California. Highly varied requirements established by individual campuses are among the perceived barriers to entering CSU teacher credential programs. Common admission standards for all of the CSU campuses would increase the equity of access and procedural ease with which potential teachers make application and enter teacher preparation programs without reducing the academic performance standards for applicants.

It is essential that CSU admission standards ensure that highly qualified applicants are attracted and admitted to its teacher credential programs. Flexibility must be maintained that will allow campuses to make admissions decisions for individual candidates based on documented systemwide variation in grade point average among disciplines. Systemwide reports document the variation in mean undergraduate grade point averages in disciplines such as those that emphasize mathematics, science and technology. Given the critical shortage of teachers with adequate preparation in these areas, it is essential that systemwide policies not create additional barriers to recruiting and admitting qualified applicants in science and math related disciplines.